


Not Just Another Chinese Food & Baseball Night

by afteriwake



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Chinese Food, Conversations, Developing Maria Hill/Steve Rogers, Developing Relationship, F/M, Male-Female Friendship, Maria Hill In A Dress, Maria is a good friend, Moving In Together, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Romantic Friendship, Sick Steve Rogers, moving to New York
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21868876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Steve's sick on one of his and Maria's usual Chinese food and baseball nights, and maybe it's the fever or maybe it's something else, but tonight seems...different. And maybe it's not a bad thing.
Relationships: Maria Hill/Steve Rogers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Not Just Another Chinese Food & Baseball Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> This fic was written for **tielan** as a holiday wish fill at Holiday Wishes, where she asked for a Steve/Maria fic. It's been a while since I've written anything, let alone this ship, so I hope it doesn't feel too wooden.

“Cap, I didn’t even know you could get sick with the super serum,” Maria said as she let herself into Steve’s apartment. She'd had her own key for ages, since back when SHIELD was still operational, but now he was glad for it because he was huddled under a blanket on the sofa, trying to get warm. “Is the flu really that bad this year?”

“Get your vaccination,” he said, sniffling. It wasn’t the worst sickness he’d ever had; that had all been in the 1940s, prior to the serum. But it was annoying after having had damn near perfect health since he’d been woken up. This was even a mild version compared to what poor Sam had gotten hit with, but there wasn’t much “poor Sam”ing going on at the moment since Sam was the one who got _him_ sick.

“Taken care of, Cap. I got mine as soon as they started.” She came into the living room and the first thing he noticed was her hair wasn’t in its normal ponytail. He was so used to seeing her with the ponytail and the leather jacket she seemed to favor in her downtime that it took a minute to realize…

“You’re dressed up. Crap, Maria, I’m keeping you from a date or something, aren’t I?” he said, leaning back into the sofa. It felt better to sit up, but right now he felt bad enough about ruining her evening that a dark hole to curl up in would be better than shrinking back into the sofa. But he had to admit, the long skirt and black tunic top of the dress looked good paired with the leather jacket, and if she was here he should take the food and send her off on her date as quickly as possible.

She laughed at that and shook her head. “I went to brunch and a movie with Sharon. Playing catch-up since...well, you know.”

Steve nodded and watched as she set down two huge paper bags inside plastic shopping bags, and he realized he could smell his favorite meals from the restaurant down the street he went to. “How’s she doing?”

“Good. FBI is good for her.”

“She won’t go back, will she?” he asked, reaching for one of the bags but Maria slapped his hand away. “If you and Fury ever rebuild SHIELD.”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I know I’ll go back, but even that depends on a few things, like where we’re situated and who’s in charge.” She reached in and pulled out her own food first, then once it was on the coffee table she pushed the rest towards Steve. “Lots of wonton and egg drop soup. I’ve been craving egg drop since last week so you have to share that.”

“Thanks,” he said, knowing he could smell kung pao chicken as well and Maria liked beef and broccoli. In fact, he was realizing he knew a lot about Maria, but also there was a lot he didn’t know. Even when he wasn’t sick, which was the rarest of rare things, she’d come by and they’d watch baseball on TV and have Chinese and it was becoming a thing he looked forward to.

But was it a Thing? That was what he’d wondered. And the initial feeling he’d had when he thought he was interrupting a date...was it jealousy?

But Maria was talking and he knew he should listen.

“I did have a date planned for later this week, but it was during the Yankees game so, you know, that wouldn’t work. We couldn’t figure out a time to reschedule, so.” She shrugged. “Guess I’m still single for a while.”

“Did you like him?” Steve asked.

“Kind of? Maybe? I mean, it’s not like I’m in the middle of SHIELD’s messes anymore. Working for Stark makes life easier, even if it means…” She stared down at her food. “I may have to go to New York. Permanently.”

He blinked at that. No more Chinese and baseball nights? No more of her sparkling wit and soft smiles when she thought she could hide them? He didn’t like that. “Brooklyn’s nice,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, so I heard.” She speared her beef a little more sharply.

“Do you _want_ to go?” he asked, staring at the fork tines going through the side of the container. She didn’t answer or look up, and even though she seemed...not herself, he gently took her food out of her hands and set it down on the table. “Talk to me.”

“SHIELD’s going to come back, somehow,” she said quietly. “And you know I’ll jump right into it. So does Fury, and Sharon, and I bet even Sam has thoughts about what might happen if it comes back. I can’t live a normal life. I’ve tried, and frankly, it sucks. But sometimes I think that maybe I could live some sort of normal life with someone who understands.”

“And...that person isn’t in New York?”

“You know, forget it,” she said. “Let’s just watch the game.”

“I miss New York, you know.” He watched her eyes widen. “Bet Sam could find a place and vets needing help there just as easily as he does here. We can keep doing what we do, you could work for Stark...”

She gave him one of those soft smiles and held his eyes for a long moment, then picked up her food and pulled the fork out of the side of the box, eating the bit of beef on it. “So, Brooklyn seems like a good place…”

He grinned back and went through the bag, thinking that they’d just taken a pretty big step without ever having been on a date themselves. He’d have to fix that when he felt better. “Yeah, Brooklyn’s pretty good, but there’s a whole lot more to New York. I can give a tour.”

“I’d like to take you up on that,” she said, finally looking away. Yeah, there might be some changes in store, but all in all? Maybe this bout with the flu had been a good thing in the end.


End file.
